


The Cat's Meow

by smallprotector



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Canon Era, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Minor Joly/Bossuet Laigle/Musichetta, a kitten - Freeform, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 03:52:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10481472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallprotector/pseuds/smallprotector
Summary: Bahorel finds a kitten. His friends enjoy meeting it for the first time.





	

Bahorel seemed to have acquired a kitten. He hadn’t meant to. But he’d been walking home one night and heard the most pitiful noises coming from a corner of an alley. He’d gone to investigate, and the little creature that blinked sadly up at him had stolen his heart. 

But soon enough, he learned that he was not to be the only one that was enchanted by the hapless creature. 

 

“Bahorel! Let me in! I brought pastries!”

The man in question startled from where he had feeding some goat’s milk to the kitten. (His mother had taught him never to feed them cow’s milk, since they it would upset their little tummies, after the mouser on the property had left her kittens in their care.)

“Just a minute!”

At the loud noise, the kitten opened its eyes, which had been squeezed up in contentment. Before it could start meowing again, Bahorel wrapped it securely in an old spare undershirt he’d found lying around. Then he stood, striding towards the door which was still being knocked on incessantly. 

He opened it forcefully to be greeted by the sight of Courfeyrac, his arm still raised to knock and whose impatient expression melted into pure joy as he saw the kitten Bahorel was holding. 

“Here you go,” he said, shoving the parcel which presumably held pastries at Bahorel while as he reached out to touch the bundle of kitten and cloth Bahorel was holding. 

“Can I hold it? I promise to be careful.”

“Fine, fine, just give me a minute to put this down.”

And soon, the pastries lay on the table forgotten and Courfeyrac was holding the kitten in a state of delight, waving fingers at it as the little thing tried to hit them. Courfeyrac laughed every time it succeeded. 

And so, the visit continued, Bahorel slowly making his way through all the pastries Courfeyrac had bought as Courfeyrac ended up chasing the kitten around as though he were a cat himself, the sound of laughter warming up Bahorel’s rooms considerably.

 

Combeferre cornered Bahorel after the next meeting, fidgeting with his glasses as he always did when he wasn’t quite comfortable. 

“Courfeyrac has informed me you have a kitten. I stumbled across some literature, you know, as one does, about the topic. So if you wanted I could come by and bring it over and demonstrate proper feeding techniques or some such thing?”

Bahorel reminded himself that Combeferre really did only want the best for him and his new pet. 

“I’ve raised kittens before, ‘Ferre. So, thanks for the offer, but don’t worry so much.”

Combeferre blinked owlishly up at him before blushing. 

“Right, of course, shouldn’t have assumed.”

He started to turn away. Just as Bahorel thought he would leave, he seemed to gather his nerve and spoke again.

“Courfeyrac also mentioned you kitten was very- soft.”

Aha! Well this cleared up a lot. 

“That he definitely is. But perhaps you’d like to see for yourself?” And then, he decided to be kind to his friend and make this easier for both of them. “And who knows, perhaps I have been feeding him wrong somehow, can’t hurt to know more.”

Combeferre ducked his head, a pleased smile lighting up his face.

“Certainly not.”

And with that, they made their way back to Bahorel’s quarters, Combeferre excitedly talking of all the things he’d read in his research into felines. ‘Stumbled across’, a likely story. More like Combeferre had spent hours looking for the perfect source of information. It was actually rather sweet. 

Once they arrived, Bahorel quickly located the kitten, dumped it onto Combeferre’s lab and sat next to him as he earnestly spoke to the kitten about her (as Combeferre confirmed) anatomy. It was rather soothing.

 

Feuilly’s visit was rather more straightforward. He simply knocked on the door, with no pretext for the visit prepared, but with a curious little stick with some yarn tangled around it. 

“I made a toy for the beast. There was always a cat or two hanging around the orphanage, and the young ones love to bat at things.”

And so Feuilly and Bahorel spent a most agreeable afternoon with the little kitten. Finally the kitten curled up on Feuilly’s chest, purring and refusing to move. Lulled by that comforting sound, Feuilly fell asleep on chaise-longue. Bahorel couldn’t bring himself to wake him up, so he simply brought over a quilt from his bed and tucked his friend in. He certainly looked as though he could use the sleep. 

 

Joly and Bossuet came to see the kitten the same as they did many things, together. Rather more uncharacteristically, they had brought they current paramour with them.

“This is Musichetta!”

The lady in question smiled at Bahorel, her smile just a tad too mischievous to be considered polite, her large dark eyes alight with happiness. 

“And you must be the gallant rescuer of small animals. My boys have told me so much about you.”

“I honoured to meet the woman these two have been mooning over for months. And all good things, I’m sure.”  
Musichetta giggled, her small dainty and coming up to cover her mouth.

“Of course. They also mentioned your cat was quite agreeable?”

And with that subtle hint, Bahorel fetched the animal from where he had been snoozing on his bed and deposited it on Musichetta’s lap as he went to make some tea for his guests. As he fetched the kettle, he wondered if the amount of cooing coming from Joly and Musichetta heralded a kitten in their shared future. 

But when he returned, he noticed that Bossuet was sitting right at the corner of the chaise-longue, taking care not to get to close. But as Bahorel started pouring tea into his best cups, he noted that he was gazing at the kitten in utter adoration, something akin to longing on his face. 

“Why don’t you hold him? I’m sure it would like it too.”

“Oh but- I couldn’t. I don’t want to drop it. What if something happened to it? You all know I’m bad luck.”

Before Bahorel could respond, Musichetta had risen, determination plain on her face as she settled the cat on Bossuet’s lap. 

Bossuet stayed still as the cat started to move around, snuffling around at his new temporary caretaker. Slowly, he brought his hand up to pet the kitten, who leaned into the touch. With that encouragement, he continued, never taking his eyes off the kitten. Bahorel had the strangest urge to coo at them both. 

“So, ‘Chetta my darling, what do you think of us getting a cat,” Joly said, looking up at her questioningly.

“I am certain that can be arranged,” she replied as the cat climbed up onto Bossuet’s shoulder, seeming fascinated with his bald head. “In fact, I suspect we could find one today.”

And after a conversation with Bahorel about what sort of supplies they might need and what else they should know, they set off to find one. Bossuet handed back the kitten reverently, but not before giving it a small kiss on her head and murmuring ‘good luck’ into her fur.

 

The first time Marius saw the kitten, he wasn’t alone either. Jehan seemed to have taken it into his mind that Marius’ pining over his mysterious girl would be alleviated by the kitten. And really, Bahorel could see why one might think that- he found himself far happier now there was this bundle of joy to return to (not that he would tell people that he thought about the creature like that, it sounded like some new mother overjoyed at her child, and Bahorel was not a mother!). But he was glad to help Marius feel better, even for a bit. After all, his gloomy face had been distracting. 

Jehan walked into his rooms first, startling Bahorel before he remembered the unfortunate incident with the flowers that had necessitated Jehan getting a key. Marius trailed after him, looking like a duckling following the next best parental substitute. 

“We wanted to see your delightful feline.”

“She should be in my bedroom, she likes sleeping on my bed. You can go and have a look on your own while I finish this assignment, right?”

Jehan wandered off to do that, but Marius shifting his weight from one foot to another as he stood in the living room.

“You can go with him, you know. If you want.”

“Oh yes that- that might be a good idea. I’ll go- do that.”

Bahorel shook his head as Marius walked off. He really did need to pet a kitten. 

 

Bahorel decided it was finally time to bring the kitten to one of the informal meetings- not one for planning direct action, but one they had ever Wednesday, where the triumvirate would sit in a corner planning for most of the time as anyone with suggestions could approach them, but most of them enjoyed an evening in each other’s company. 

And so he arrived at the Musain one day with a kitten in his jacket. 

At first, no one noticed anything was different about him as he went to sit in a corner with a beer. Even once he brought the kitten out from his jacket to place it on the table there was no initial reaction. He amused himself by wiggling his fingers at her, enticing the little beast to pounce at them. 

But after one particularly enthusiastic jump, the kitten looked up and seemed get distracted by something nearby. Bahorel tried to stop her as she bounded off, but his hands grasped empty air. Damnation. He looked around frantically, fearing that the cat might have tried to run from the café. 

Then he heard it.

“Oh aren’t you just the sweetest! Such a good little kitten! Such fine strong paws- and how soft is you fur!”

What. Bahorel turned, not believing his ears but his eyes confirmed what he had already known. Enjolras was holding the kitten, a look of utter delight on his face as he continued to speak to her in the softest voice anyone had ever heard from their leader. 

For a moment, no one else spoke. 

“There the rascal is! I’m sorry, she wasn’t supposed to run away.”

Enjolras looked up, seemingly noticing that he was being watched for the first time since he’d spotted the kitten.

“Er- that’s quite alright. We seem to be getting along rather well.”

“I can take her off your hands if you want?”

“Oh no, that’s not necessary,” Enjolras said, clutching the animal close to his chest as she tried to wriggle away. 

“Does the beauteous beast have a name?” Grantaire’s voice rang through the Musain, and Enjolras blushed as he realised truly everyone was paying him and the kitten attention. 

“Not yet, I just can’t quite get it right.”

“Well I suggest Patria. We can fight in her name, isn’t that just wonderful. And instead of being a concept that will never care about us, Patria can be something we can carry close to our heart- I mean, she can scratch us there. And bite. That’s what I was trying to say.”

“You know, that’s not an entirely bad idea, Grantaire.” Bahorel tried to keep the amusement from his voice. Grantaire had a tendency to deny that he was ever positive, but Bahorel knew that at his heart, he was as fanciful as their resident poet. 

Grantaire stood, wandering over to Enjolras- it appeared he was taking great care to seem casual, but his face was far too nervous for his actions to be anything but very deliberately planned. 

“So, Patria. What do you think of the name, Enjolras?”

“It’s perfect.”

The unguarded, open expression on Enjolras’ face as he looked up at Grantaire unbalanced him, and Grantaire took a step back and stared at the kitten. 

Bahorel strode over deciding that the poor animal was far too confined in Enjolras’ hands, and plucked it from him. 

“Now you two can discuss or whatnot while I take Patria back home. Have fun!”

Grantaire shot Bahorel a dirty look, but Enjolras simply reached out to pet her one last time. 

“Take good care of her, Bahorel.”

And with that, Bahorel returned home. Patria curled up on his lap and slept as he tried to finish his essay. But somehow, her gentle purring dragged him into a relaxing slumber. Just when he was about to fall asleep, he thanked the Heavens for this wonderful animal he had stumbled across. And with that thought in his mind, he fell asleep with a smile on his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are very appriciated! I'm on tumblr as wanttodrawmothsfrommemory, come say hi :D Look out for the other rarepair/gen fics I'll be posting this week, I've set myself a little challenge :) feel free to suggest anything you'd like to see :D
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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